Enthnic People Called after Joining in CCHR Public Forum

At least 9 indigenous people in Bousra commune, Pech Chreada, Mondulkiri province were summoned to visit at the Commune Office on March 4, 2010 by Bousra communal chief after they had participated in a public forum held by the Cambodian Center for Human Rights on February 25, 2010 on Human Rights and Development.

Those people had expressed their ideas and concerns about the problems they had been confronting related to their land, which they asserted was grabbed by a joint French-Khmer company Socfin KCD and Vietnamese Dalat Rubber Company. The people accused those companies of clearing and bulldozing their shifting land, protected forest land and their ancestor tomb land.

Only 8 out of those who were called did go to the communal office because the other one was sick. However, they were accompanied by other 30 to 40 villagers for the reason that they were worried about the security and safety of those 8 people.

At the beginning of the meeting, the communal chief Keng Gnak started by calling Mrs. By Deng, 44, whose husband is the village chief, to ask her for the reason why she had mentioned his role during the forum on February 25, 2010. He also mentioned By Deng had provided information related to the concession company to media. After a two-hour verbal argument Keng Gnak ultimately warned and intimidated the villagers not to have communication with outsiders; especially rights NGOs, not to assemble and not to go outside the area without informing him. Furthermore, he also accused them of incitement and obstinateness because they had protested against them and the company.

Mr. Chhim Savuth, the Community Empowerment Project coordinator for the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, who directly worked on this case and held the public forum in the dispute area, added that apart from restricting villagers on participating the forum and banning them from moving out, the communal chief in cooperation with some local police officers had very often threatened those indigenous community to stop opposing against the company. He also mentioned that during meeting with villagers Mr. Keng Gnak aggressively banged the table as some villagers were trying to react to what inappropriately talk to them.

On March 9, 2010 two indigenous Phnorng women secretly went out their village to file complaints with CCHR to intervene the case. They brought with thumbprints of 4 villages (However, the negative effect on them is more than 4 villages.) to state their problems related to their land being grabbed by Socfin KCD. They said by asking for the condition of anonymity that they left the village when it was getting dark and did not allow the communal chief to know their trip to Phnom Penh at all; otherwise they would probably have a problem.

Related to their protest, they reported that before the forum, on February 19, 2010 around 8:00 am Keng Gnak and Bou Sra communal clerk once summoned 4 villagers representatives- By Deng, Phleun Ngouk, Kob Ngiel and Kong Vuthy, to accept the compensation from the company, which had cleared and bulldozed, destroying their forefather tombs and protected forest land. They asked them to accept a kind of traditional payment of one million riel, a buffalo, a pig, two jars of traditional wine and a container of white wine. However they refused such reparation due to the reason that it was not a just and fair compensation. At that time those local authorities yelled at them, saying that the villagers were opposition activists, NGOs activists and inciters.

They also mentioned that the residents have been searched, banned from expressing opinion or concern in the forum; and recently the communal chief has not allowed one of the indigenous community people to hold a wedding of their children.

Whereas Mr. Chay Thy, Adhoc provincial coordinator in Mondulkiri said that many companies were granted with economic land concessions in the area; but only Socfin KCD was increasingly notorious for driving villagers trouble; especially the standard of living.

Consequently, in terms of human rights point of view, as such prohibition of people from joining in a meeting or forum, assembly and movement is considered to have seriously violated human rights. Such misconducts of those authorities reflected the violation on indigenous rights, which guarantees in the Cambodian Land Law, and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; and within these laws, Cambodia is one of the signatory countries has to abide by such international instruments.

For these reasons, the Cambodian Center for Human Rights would strongly encourage the Cambodian government and the Council for the Development of Cambodia, who plays as the Royal Government’s Etat-Major, to take immediate and thorough actions to ease such wrongdoings of those local authorities and solve the above problems fairly and justly in favor of local interests.